Asymptotic progress bars for tasks of unknown length
gist.github.com
gist.github.com
They fill logarithmically, so they still feel fast for the majority of tasks that execute quickly and finish within a few seconds, while remaining responsive and showing progress even for the longest running tasks.
https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/blob/dev/archivebox...
I've pulled it out into a gist here because I think it's generally a neat technique and works in almost any case where you are uncertain of total task duration.